Crystals

Crystals
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Crystals start their life-cycle with a violent birth: the collapse of a planet. The release of energy hurls septillions of spores into the vast cosmos - only a minuscule fraction will make it to a new star.

For a new colony to be successful the system must have:

* ringed planets close to the sun
* rocky planets with molten cores

And the spore must:

* fall into a tight orbit around the sun

Spores slowly grow by accumulating solar dust, eventually migrating to richer planetary rings via solar radiation. Spores split via mitosis and the colony reaches critical mass after 5-50 million years.

Approximately one third of the colony bond together and hurl themselves at the nearest (suitable), rocky planet. The nymph is embedded at the crust-mantle boundary, it grows in both directions - to harvest heat and ensure the entry does not close.

As the core develops it takes on a unique "personality" and constructs complex infrastructure, communication systems for controlling spores in space, surface sensors, defense systems, geothermal vents and similar. The precise constructions are unique to each core.

Once the core consumes 80-90% of the planet's interior it begins replacing the crust with a layer of spores, the planet slowly expands and it's structural integrity weakens until.. collapse! The cycle starts again.

Should what remains of the planet still be hot spores in the vicinity will create a new core.

Spore description
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Black spheres 1-2mm in diameter. They can secrete a strong adhesive, navigate space and transform into other crystal archetypes.

Common features
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* Hollow & porous
* Interior & exterior surfaces divided into many segments, which respond in various ways when interacting with light & heat
* Shell contains pockets of chemicals which can be mixed to achieve various results, e.g: propellant, ink, explosives
* Some chemical patches emit beams of light and are used for signaling
* Chemical patches are activated by light / heat, a gel coating subdues signals according to parameters specific to that patch
* Most "lasers" point inwards, when they fire other lasers are triggered, the pattern of firing is equivalent to a human brain

Example archetypes
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* Station - large (2-500m) general-purpose crystal that sits at the surface and executes commands from the core - relaying messages, manufacturing other crystals, detecting anomalies. Shaped like a concave dome (hollow underneath).
* Beacon - mid-sized crystal that stays in space and can co-ordinate spores with great precision, e.g: direct a projectile from space
* Swarmer - mid-sized crystal for defensive purposes. Sprays enemies with marker ink and releases small crystals from pouches that launch themselves at the target bludgeoning / burning it to death.

Generalizations
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* The larger a core is the smarter / more sophisticated it is
* The same applies for _any_ crystal archetype
* Colonies require a core to produce archetypes other than spores